Location: Ohio US
I am in the process of ending a 4 year relationship. During the last 3 years we rented a house together and split bills 50/50. The lease is in both of our names. The utilities gas and electric are in my name because he had utilities at another house for a month when we first moved in. The water and sewer are in both of our names.
He does not use a debit card. He will go to the bank every other day and withdraw the cash he needs or put it on a cash app card for some bills.
I have the bills set on autopay to come out of my account, to ensure they are paid on time. And then he would withdraw his portion to pay me. I kept a spreadsheet of all the bills, and what he paid. He had a few hard months where he wasnt able to give me the full amount, but he always said he would pay.
He works and makes decent money. I own a small business. So it has been very stressful to be the one making sure all of the bills are paid. He never gave me a reason to think he wouldnt pay, but he paid on his own time. I trusted him and I have a slow season from December to March, so I told him he could pay me back during my slow season. He was supposed to get a large tax return from the last two years and he said he would give that all to me to cover the bills he owes. He missed the deadline and had to deal with some fraud, so he won’t get that money until tax time next year. I thought he would get the money and pay me. He has gotten behind before and paid it.
At this time he owes me a little over 8k. I have a recording of him saying he will pay me the money he owes me, but not a specific amount. He would always get upset when I showed him the bills and talked about the money, but I wanted him to be aware of the balance. I think he is going to try to fight it in court. He always says because i chose the due dates, thats why he is behind on bills but that doesnt even make sense because as long as he pays his portion each month that is fine. I thought I was being a supportive partner by lending him the money to cover his bills until he could pay.
I have all the receipts showing all of the bills I have paid.
Now that we have broken up, he says he will still pay me back but I am understandably worried. Especially sinse we just renewed our lease a few days ago, and I will have to cover the bills moving forward even if he doesnt pay. I am in a busy season of my business, I cant take off work. I am a solo entrepreneur and the only member of my business. I have to travel every weekend, sometimes longer. I won’t be able to move until December. The house also has quite a bit of damage from him and his dogs, along with some wear and tear / a couple things from me and my dogs. This will need to be fixed before we move out.
He is currently packing his things and planning to move this weekend.
So I have a few questions,
- If I ask the landlord to go to a month to month lease and stay in the house longer than him does that change the responsibility as far as damages when I move out?
- Should I document all the damage while his belongings are still here?
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If they won’t allow us to break the lease, (it says in our contract if we break the lease we are responsible for the full lease term of rent) and i stay but he leaves is he responsible for half the rent? If I am going to be sued for rent, I might as well stay and try to pay it. But I dont think its fair for him to not have any responsibility sinse he is also on the lease.
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What is the best way to go about filing a case in small claims court for the money he owes me? Are there things I can do to prepare?
5.He says the spreadsheet i have kept showing all of the bills and payments doesnt mean anything and won’t hold up in court. Is this true?
I have been working so hard on building my business. I am so lucky and grateful to have my business and this financial strain would make things very difficult to keep my business going. I have decent credit and some savings but I am scared. Ive never been in this position.
Please help, any advice or help you can provide is much appreciated.
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